Published at 7th of February 2023 10:58 am

Chapter 141: Ghost Vs Ghostsaw I

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"Ghostsaw. Sure it sounds fun." Merlin said while accepting the quest.

"Very well. I'll have someone escort you to the building." The elf said, "Do you need to plan anything beforehand?"

"Well, I might need to get something to counter invisibility." Merlin muttered, "If the guy goes invisible I probably wont be able to detect him."

The elf stared at Merlin for a moment before reassuring him. "There's no need to worry. The office already has measures in place to prevent such a thing. You just need to worry about killing him quickly."

"Do I need to wear a mask again?" Merlin asked.

"You mean the owl mask?" The elf chuckled, "The people within that office are on our side, but at the same time it wouldn't hurt to separate that lifestyle and your identity, even if it's just with a mask."

Merlin nodded, deciding that he'd switch to his owl mask before entering.

"I would have thought you'd find some kind of demon mask or something to keep consistent with your nickname." The elf said while laughing. "If you're not careful people might start calling you owlman instead of ghost."

"I'm not sure which one I hate more." Merlin sighed. "Alright. Then I'm ready to go."

The elf nodded calling in one of the nearby thieves who was usually sitting around at one of the tables.

"Guide our friend here to the office." The elf ordered the other thief, who quickly accepted his duties.

The thief turned to Merlin, who had just stood up from his chair, and asked him to follow.

"Lead the way." Merlin said.

The thief lead Merlin out of the tavern and into the slums, and before they entered the crowd of people in the main part of the city both of them pulled their hoods over their heads.

The thief lead Merlin into a part of town he wasn't that familiar with, partially because it seemed to be the more fancy area in town which he had no reason to visit up until this point. After a few more turns, the roads quickly became less packed, as it seemed most people didn't have a reason to be here either.

"Alright, we're here." The guide spoke.

Merlin stared up at an excessively large building, it seemed to have at least three floors, or perhaps two with very high ceilings.

Merlin took his cloak off and replaced it with his panthers cloak, he also brought out the owl mask, putting it on before entering the building.

As Merlin entered the building, he found himself impressed at the interior design of the building, truly government buildings were excessive in both design and size.

"Woah. What is the purpose of having ceilings that high." Merlin muttered.

"Overcompensation, it makes the people who work here feel important." The guide remarked.

"Fair enough." Merlin didn't want to comment, so he just nodded and continued following the guide.

Merlin was getting some strange looks from the various workers in the area, most of the eyes were filled with suspicion. Since he was next to someone, who he could only assume was a known figure in this office, nobody approached him or questioned him.

He was eventually lead up a set of stairs and brought into a room behind a large set of double doors.

In this room was an older looking gentleman with a full head of grey hair and rough patchy stubble of a similar shade, the man was working at a desk on the far side of the room. There were a few people standing beside him, they seemed to be servants based on their behaviour, but it was more likely that they were just subordinates with meek personalities.

The room had a strange device in the centre of the room that was constantly spraying a fine mist into the air, somewhat like a large humidifier.

The gentleman at the desk looked up at Merlin and the guide, before turning back to his work, he didn't seem interested in Merlin at all.

"This is who he sends me?" The gentleman spoke out, his voice was surprisingly deep. "Does he wish for me to die?"

"No sir, despite appearances, this young man is quite capable." The guide spoke to the gentleman. "He is the lord's favourite."

The gentleman at the desk beckoned the two to walk closer.

As Merlin walked forward, following the guide, he got a whiff of a sharp almost minty-like scent alongside a more earthy smell, it seemed to be coming from the strange humidifier in the centre of the room.

"Observer's bloom?" Merlin subconsciously mumbled out loud with a questioning tone.

"Oh? You're quite keen." The gentleman spoke, "Perhaps I misjudged you."

"Yes, the mist is infused with observer's bloom, this is our counter for any would-be assassins who rely on stealth abilities or invisibility magic." The gentleman continued. "Oh dear, where are my manners, we haven't been introduced yet."

"Jenmier. Elwood Jenmier, that is my name." The gentleman introduced himself, "Should we survive this ordeal, it is likely we will meet again. What would you like to be referred to as?"

Merlin thought about his question for a moment, he was going to use his real name, but then he remembered the thief lord's words about keeping his real identity a secret.

"Ghost." Merlin muttered, before clearing his throat and speaking louder. "The guild calls me ghost."

"Ghost is it?" Elwood muttered, "Very well, ghost. I'll be relying on you to deal with the assassin, you may stand guard in this room if you wish."

"Yes sir." Merlin said.

Merlin made his way over to one of the seats closest to the door and sat down, he wasn't sure how long he had to wait until something happened, but he was willing to wait as long as he could.

A fair amount of time flew past with nothing happening, Merlin began spending this time in the corner coating his daggers with yew poison, only to sit back down again with nothing to do.

The old man was lazing around at this point too, as he had completed his work a little while ago.

Merlin glanced at the window every so often, watching as the sky slowly dimmed down until it was night time once more, but his view was suddenly obstructed by a large red alert box.

┌───────────────────

[Message from the devs!]

Group one, there is only one hour left for today's session, you will receive another notification when it's time to log out.

If you do not leave by that time you will be forcibly disconnected, please make sure you're in a safe location when you log out.

└───────────────────

'Oh great, now I've got a deadline to complete the mission.' Merlin groaned in his thoughts. 'I sure hope this guy appears soon. If I fail the quest because I got booted from the server, I'll be disappointed.'

Before Merlin could do anything, he sensed an eerie presence in the wall behind him.

Merlin ducked and twisted his body just in time to see a long serrated blade swing out from the wall, slicing through where his neck would have been before vanishing back behind the wall.

"What? I could have sworn that should have hit." A strange muffled voice leaked out from behind the wall. "Someone is awfully lucky."

Merlin backed away from the wall, moving closer to the centre of the room. As he did so, a man dressed in all black opened the door and walked in, closing the door behind him.

"Good morning Elwood." The man dressed in black spoke with a surprisingly upbeat voice, it seemed almost playful. "Can I just say, I'm a big fan of your work. But, unfortunately you're getting in the way of my employer's fun, so I'm going to have to ask you to retire."

"Oh, what do we have here?" The man said while staring at Merlin. "An impostor, how cute."

Merlin could see bloodshot eyes behind the creepy black mask the man was wearing, and then his attention snapped to the blade the man was holding. It seemed to be giving off an eerie aura, causing Merlin's hair to stand on end.

"Ghostsaw I presume?" Merlin asked with a questioning tone, he unsheathed his daggers and entered a fighting stance.

"The one and only." Ghostsaw remarked with an arrogant tone, "Let's see what you've got, little owl."

Before Merlin could react, Ghostsaw held his blade to his chest, before his body suddenly vanished.

"Invisibility, what a pain." Merlin remarked as he began looking around the room while taking a few steps back.

Merlin's eyes immediately snapped to the translucent figure of a man who was charging towards him. The mist had started revealing Ghostsaw's position, and Merlin saw that he started swinging his blade, getting ready to slice him.

Merlin moved his goblin dagger in the way of the blade at the last second in an attempt to parry the blade, but surprisingly enough, it was as if Ghostsaw's blade slipped through his own. Merlin attempted to twist his body at the last second to avoid the brunt of the strike, but the long serrated blade managed to slice his skin.

Merlin leapt backwards while holding his arm, he took a look at the damage logs, and what he saw shocked him.

"Seventeen damage for a measly scratch? Are you kidding me?" Merlin remarked. "What kind of overpowered dagger is that."

"You saw me?" Ghostsaw seemed equally as shocked, for a completely different reason.

'So his blade can go through things?' Merlin thought to himself, 'That's going to be a pain to deal with if I can't parry his strikes.'

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